Verizon’s Galaxy S3 Developer Edition shows up as ‘coming soon’ on Samsung’s site

How much is an unlocked bootloader worth to you? That’s the questions you will have to ask yourself as you behold the landing page for the Samsung Galaxy S3 Developer Edition for Verizon, which looks to set you back at least $599. The site appeared online over the weekend and features the ever popular “coming soon” tag but few other details aside from the rundown of standard Galaxy S3 specs.

For one reason or another, Verizon’s subsidized edition of the Galaxy S3 has been set up in a manner that is not so friendly to outside development and Samsung promised to provide the Developer Edition to meet the needs of hardcore users. The choice now is between purchasing the special edition of the phone at full price or waiting for a possible unlock tool, whether it be through official or unofficial means. There have been some whispers that Samsung will provide such a software tool in the future, but these remain unconfirmed.

Think about it, why would they unlock it, if they are planning to make money off people who will buy the $599 developer edition? I know Verizon has a horrible PR record, but they are amount making money, and if they unlock the regular GS3, they will not make money on developer edition GS3.

Joe

Does anyone know if the handset would be covered under VZW TEC if purchased this way?

TEC stays with the number…if you have it, then you can esn change and it will stay there…BUT the dev version isnt suppose to be covered by VZW, but by Sammy or yourself. Basically, if you have TEC, you maybe able to fit in the loop hole.

NIGHTSCOUT

This is Samsung’s response to Verizon blaming Samsung for the locked down bootlaoder. Suck it Verizon.

eric

I returned my S3 to the verizon store. sucked up the restocking fee. ordering this the minute it’s available. fuck verizon

XBR360

Why in the world would you do that? You returned the phone and lost $30 when you could have sold it for about $500 and made approximately $270, after the cost of the phone and the upgrade fee, to put towards the new $600 developer s3. The only reason not to do this would be to keep your upgrade, but I would say that most of us that pre ordered the verizon s3 did so simply because it was the last upgrade that we will ever be able to use, and still be able to keep unlimited data.

I’ve been tempted to do this myself, but I have a feeling that the development community for the dev phone will actually be smaller than the community working on the locked s3. If you think about it, this makes sense as the user base of the dev version will be tiny, and any ROM will still have to be ported to that specific version of the device.